How Basketball Changed My Life

In basketball, always dribble with your head up. No, this is not something I learned from one of my coaches or any of my teammates. This is one of the many lessons I learned from a young African refugee. It began on a snowy day, peering through my frost bitten window at the basketball hoop across the street. Amongst the falling snow there was someone I had never seen before with a basketball in his hand and a smile wider than I thought the blistering cold would allow. At first, I was hesitant to go over and play as I had never seen the boy, and lets just say his skill level was a little better than mine. I will never forget my trepidation as I ventured across the street and met someone that would change my life forever. Once I reached him, we did not speak, we just played. After a while of playing,
The oldest boy, my basketball buddy, had grown up very fast and was the adult of the house; the oldest girl spoke very little English; and the two youngest sisters were painfully shy. I realized they were in a different situation than I was and I wanted to do everything I could to help them. Once school started I began to go over to their house a few times a week and help them with their schoolwork. At times, when helping them with math or english speaking, it could be frustrating but I then used his advice to me, “keep your head up” became a common saying between us whenever facing a difficult situation. It brought me great joy to help their family become a part of the community and succeed in school. Realizing the uneasiness of being in a country of so many unknowns, I helped them learn the neighborhood where we were lucky enough to be able to walk to the playground, ice cream shop, pizza place and other places where it was easy to include my refugee neighbors into mainstream